Well, I suppose they can make their movement about anything they want. And as long as the movement was about sexual assault and sexual harassment (especially in the work place), you could count me in. No one should be forced to engage in sex acts against their will, and certainly, no one should have to tolerate sexual harassment to keep a job or get a promotion. What a nightmare that must be!

But, increasingly, “me too” appears to be becoming some sort of catch-all phrase to indicate something that some woman, somewhere, doesn’t like because they feel it contributes to sexism or misogyny (or what they think is “misogyny” anyway).

Good luck with that.

Note: I am not sure that this expansion of “me too” is going to help politically. I do know that in 2012, Obama got 42 percent of the white women vote and 55 percent of the women vote, and in 2016 Clinton got 43 percent of the white women vote (1 point higher, well within MOE) and 54 percent of the women vote (1 point lower, again within MOE). (per CNN exit polls, 2012 and 2016). Given the publicity that Trump had..well, evidently women, on the whole, did not see Trump’s behaviors and statements to be disqualifying. In fact, he was very open about his attitude from the get-go.

If we beat Trump in 2020, it won’t be because of “me too”, pussy hat marches, or other such things.

Now, of course, “me too” really isn’t purely political. But I do think that keeping it a bit more narrowly focused might help win allies (say, Republican women who don’t like sexual harassment either).

Workout notesIt was a bit warm and sticky outside and I wanted some turnover so I went to the (still warm but out of the sun) gym.
Treadmill: slow 10 minutes then 2.234 miles in 21:21 (9:33 pace, 6.1 for 10 minutes, then 6.2-6.6 every 2, 6.7 for 1:21). Then walk/jog to get to 43 minutes for 4, 56:40 for 5. Then a slow walk outside; it was enough today.

More recorded interviews have surfaced that show actor Morgan Freeman making sexually suggestive comments to female interviewers.

The recorded interviews found Morgan making the comments to Entertainment Tonight interviewers, ET reported. During promotion for the 2016 film “London Has Fallen,” Morgan made very personal comments to ET correspondent Ashley Crossan.

“Are you married?” Morgan asked.

When Crossan said she was not married, Morgan asked if she would “fool around with older guys.”

“Fool around with older guys? I’m just asking,” Morgan said.

Once the interview ended, Crossan got up to shake the now 80-year-old actor’s hand and said that it was a “pleasure” to meet him.

“Mine,” Freeman said. “Look at yourself.”

In another interview in 2015 with ET special correspondent Janet Mock for the 2014 movie “Five Flights Up,” the actor made a comment about the length of Mock’s dress.

“I don’t know how you all manage to do that all the time,” he said. “You got a dress halfway between your knee and your hips, and you sit down right across from me and cross your legs.”

Have we gotten to the point where “cringe worthy, boorish” comments are now “Me too?”

Yes, I would never make such comments to someone I was not comfortable flirting with…that is, my wife or close friend that I am not a work colleague with, but does this really compare with someone being pressured for sex in order to get a job, promotion, and the like?

One danger: if this is what gets reported as “me too” then I’ll start scrolling past the articles and not taking them seriously.

Haven’t people heard of “cry wolf” or “pick your battles”?

If you complain all of the time about everything, your complaints become part of the background noise.

I have a few Republican friends. One of them is a work colleague who is known for being very careful in what he says. When he reads something, he reads what is there and not what “should be there”. He writes in much the same way. Needless to say, he is an asset to our department.

But every voting season, we cancel each other’s vote.

So when I talk about compartmentalizing friendship, I am probably misusing a word that often is used as a pejorative. This might be because my first use of the word was when I was in the military; there it meant the compartmentalizing of classified information in that you were told what you need to know to do YOUR job but no more.

All of this came to mind when I read this article which claims that we have a tendency to trust the views of the politically like minded, even when someone from a different political tribe might know more about a particular area or subject. A consequence of this is that we might be more wiling to swallow nonsense if it comes from another tribe member rather than to step back and ask yourself “do I really believe this”.

Evidently this was too much for a few of my (former) “woke” liberal friends.

Gee: asking for solid evidence prior to convicting the man in the court of public opinion…gasp…not that!

Oh, I was treated to some of the facts about accusations of sexual assault (which is NOT among the allegations made against Morgan Freeman but never mind that) and, of course, the article that was shown to me was:

1. About reports made to law enforcement. Such reports require a huge emotional investment and carry penalties for being deliberately false.
I would think that it is obvious that such reports would be more carefully made than something said to a reporter.

2. This is about sexual violence (e. g. rape) and not about being looked at in a creepy manner or getting your skirt played with (or an attempt). i think that those are very different levels, and the latter might be part of “flirting gone bad”; a misunderstanding (e. g. one person thought it was consensual but it really wasn’t). And yes, I know..things get more complicated when there *might* be a difference in power.

This is not always as clear as it is in my workplace. In my workplace, I keep it completely professional; I like distance between myself and students. Colleagues: even then I try to stay away from pressure situations. Example: when I need someone to cover a class, I try to ask all of the other tenured professors first; I don’t want the non-tenured folks to feel pressured to saying “yes” to an optional favor.

Ok, I digressed; my point is that what Mr. Freeman is accused of is nothing like some of the other stuff we’ve seen in the “metoo” related news.

But..point that out..point out that:

1. You want evidence.
2. False accusations of this kind are not really related to false reports submitted to the law enforcement about serious crimes
3. The accused behavior isn’t in the same league as some of the other stuff…

And the “woke” people will “splain” it to you.

I’ll call this “wokesplaining”. And I won’t tolerate it.

A discussion about this on Facebook lead to my blocking a couple of wokesplainers including one who tied my attitude about this to my, well, love of seeing women in yoga pants.

This article talks about the pitfalls of politics becoming amateur hour. Not everyone has the talent for it..and someone having a platform that I agree with does not mean that they’ll get any action on said platform.

A senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign who was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing a young subordinate was kept on the campaign at Mrs. Clinton’s request, according to four people familiar with what took place.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager at the time recommended that she fire the adviser, Burns Strider. But Mrs. Clinton did not. Instead, Mr. Strider was docked several weeks of pay and ordered to undergo counseling, and the young woman was moved to a new job.

Mr. Strider, who was Mrs. Clinton’s faith adviser, a co-founder of the American Values Network, and sent the candidate scripture readings every morning for months during the campaign, was hired five years later to lead an independent group that supported Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 candidacy, Correct the Record, which was created by a close Clinton ally, David Brock.

He was fired after several months for workplace issues, including allegations that he harassed a young female aide, according to three people close to Correct the Record’s management.

In other words, Hillary Clinton tried a less strident, less draconian approach and attempted to reform. And she is getting creamed for it!

Sigh… You can make a credible argument that she *should* have fired him, but it isn’t as if she looked the other way.

Personal As I finished my power walk, a lose German shepherd saw me and followed me for about 1/2 a mile…like I was walking it without a leash. I was afraid that someone might think that I was being irresponsible!

Some of it might be my age and station in life; so little of what is in the current news affects me directly anymore. I say “directly” because some bad policy might have harmful effects that show up later (e. g. economic stimulus at the bottom of the economy tends to filter up, inaction or weak action on climate change might (probably?) will lead to terrible effects later, etc.)

And as far as discussing things with others: forget about it. It appears that those most eager to talk well, really don’t know what they are talking about. 🙂

From the current right wing:

Liberals need to come to terms with the fact that conservatives on Capitol Hill, in the executive branch, at interest groups, and around the country think this is a good president leading a well-run administration.

And the stuff about Russia and possible collusion (and yes, there is something to this) will NOT be believed on the other side; they will see it as the the usual “political mudslinging” that always goes on.

Yes, I’ve seen workplace groping incidents and no one wants a return to those days (I think). And yes, the workplace should be a place for work. But aside from that, there IS a difference between socially inept attempts to flirt and sexual harassment. Yes, many women know the difference. Not all do.

I’ve had some female friends …friends who HAVE been sexually assaulted in the past…tell me that a lot of this feminist stuff “does not speak to them”.
I’d be interested to know what percentage of women have heard of “me too” and what percentage of women have heard of it but do not embrace it. I do NOT have data here.

And yes, I do wonder if political correctness (which is NOT mere politeness) has harmed us. I think that Steven Pinker is right on here (though this is simplified, as it has to be as it is only 8 minutes long)

Oh well…off to run a bit.

Last night I just KILLED it at yoga class. Ok..maybe not so much; I almost toppled over in some relatively “basic” poses. I need to practice more.

I’ve been following the “Me too” thing and, well, I wonder exactly what that means. Of course, being pressured for sex from a boss certainly counts, or being assaulted.

I know that when I was a young teen, we sometimes slapped girls on the butt (sometimes they got us back) but that eventually ended as we matured. I don’t know if that counts.

So, as an adult I had to say “Not me.” But…
I do remember a time when a gym worker that I had made small talk with swatted my butt unexpectedly. But I didn’t see that as a big deal; I never felt threatened or even annoyed; in fact, I think we saw a movie together (at a later time). I saw that as a clumsy attempt at the romance game.

But were it a guy just smacking a woman’s ass …would that have counted as “me too”?

Note: in my case, there was NO “power difference”; I was perfectly capable of saying “don’t do that again, else I will report you..”, etc. Then again, I was physically stronger than she was; in fact, much more so. I was not afraid of her by any means.

And yes, I know that there are guys who have been abused in this manner including some physically intimidating guys (example, example) It can happen to anyone, though statistically speaking, it happens to women more often.

About Blueollie

To keep track of my sports activities. I rarely train for anything anymore; mostly I just do workouts of the following types: running, walking, weight lifting and swimming. My best ultra accomplishment was walking 101 miles in 24 hours in 2004. These days, I walk a marathon every once in a while (5:50 to 7 hours) There was a time when I could run a sub 40 minute 10K (did that once), but that was another lifetime ago; these a days 2427-282525:50-27:45 28-31 minutes for a 5K would be more like it. I also have an off and on interest in yoga and in weight training. My lifetime PB in the bench is 310; currently I do sets of 4-5 with 190 185.

Best this year has been 200 (relatively easy).

To discuss the football, basketball or baseball game I’ve been to. Since 2011, I started to attend live football games regularly (University of Illinois, sometimes Illinois State, sometimes either the Colts or Bears of the NFL…don’t get me started on the Rams) ; I’ve attended Bradley Basketball games (men and women) for some time. In the past 3 years, I started to watch live baseball again (mostly the Peoria Chiefs (low A affiliate of the Cardinals) and Bradley University; sometimes the Normal Cornbelters (Frontier League; similar to low A level ball).

From time to time, I post what I am thinking about mathematically

I often post links to science articles, especially articles about cosmology and evolution.

I am very sympathetic to the “new atheist” movement, though some might consider me to be an agnostic. I reject any notion of a deity that interferes with physical events, but remain agnostic to the idea that there might be something “grand and wonderful” (Dawkins’ phrase) outside of our current spacetime continuum.

I am a liberal Democrat who thinks that the current social atmosphere is tilted way too far toward the interests of big business, and I reject the idea that a “free market” cures all ills, though pure socialism doesn’t work either. I am also a believer in the freedom of speech, including speech that I might not like. Also, I’ve been involved (to a moderate degree) with political campaigns, ranging from City Council races up to Presidential races.

I like to post photos of trips and vacations.

I like women in spandex. 🙂

The 2016 election: I voted for Hillary Clinton and was dismayed that she lost the Electoral College, though I take a bit of comfort that a plurality of voters preferred her (by just over 2 percentage points!)

I see Donald Trump as an unqualified amateur who lacks the humility and deportment to be an effective president; I sure hope the time proves me wrong. It does not appear that I am wrong though (as of June, 2018) I’ve been wrong before (e. g. my election prediction) and will be wrong again. I hope this is one of those times.